"Sontag weaves a picture of the time of the French
Revolution that shows us some of the brutal reality of the lives of both rich
and poor during that time. She explores personal culpability and innocence in
times of war and hardship. She also makes certain aspects of war all too
real. I shuddered all over while reading about the beheadings of the French
revolution. Whew! Keep a dictionary close at hand to enrich your vocabulary."
... Kelly

"Volcano Lover was a
colorful look at changing times in Europe during times of change.
Characters are distinct and somewhat eccentric in both speech and actions.
These people were not your run of the mill nobility, sitting around waiting for
life to happen. The trips back and forth from England to Italy were very
interesting. I loved the descriptive language." ... Michelle

"The
Volcano Lover is
a book to feed your intellect. Susan Sontag presents her story
with a rich and precise vocabulary. Character
descriptions are drawn with subtlety as she explores a time of
great cultural change in Europe. Her characters generally reflect
the conventions of the time, but her unconventional characters are the
most informing about the age. The novel is set in Italy and
England in the years preceding and during the French Revolution."
... Jan

The introduction to this "avant-pop anthology" is the best thing to
read in preparation for what promises to be a free-wheeling discussion about
art and life.

Sontag, Susan. On Photography. New York: Anchor Books, 1977.

On Photography is Sontag's deeply thoughtful explanation about
why it is necessary to really think about the act of photography, which is
"a grammar and, even more importantly, an ethics of seeing" in an
age when mere images--proportedly images of truth--claim more and more of our
attention.

In an interview for The New York Times
Book Review, Ms. Sontag noted that she "can never take my own
unhappiness really seriously because I think so much of how badly off most
people in the world are." She insisted that she participated
imaginatively in the horrors that are part of history. When asked if social
morality can be so internalized, Sontag responded passionately that one
doesn't choose such participation rationally. "You either are in touch
with that imaginatively or you're not. It's not deciding--it's the other way
around. I can't screen it out. I feel I'm receiving messages all the time. And
sometimes I'm overwhelmed." Overwhelmed by what? "By suffering...I'm
incredibly squeamish. I cannot watch most American movies. I don't even have a
television